Bannon was once an executive with the political-consulting firm, which is alleged to have used data mined from millions of Facebook users to create political ads that favored Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the push for Brexit. He also claims credit for the company's name.

Bannon was speaking at a conference held by the Financial Times newspaper.

The former Breitbart News boss also pushed back on the idea that Cambridge Analytica won the election for Trump.

"Here's what won it for Trump: economic nationalism" and talking in plain language to the American people, Bannon said.

Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix was suspended earlier this week after the UK's Channel 4 ran an expose which showed the executive bragging that the firm was in charge of all the data and ads for the Trump campaign. Cambridge Analytica executives also were caught on video boasting of using entrapment, fake news and psychological manipulation in its operations.

Bannon declined to comment directly on Nix, but instead zeroed in on Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, assailing the social media giant's business model.

"They take your stuff for free. They sell it and monetize it for huge margins. That's why the companies trade for such high valuations," Bannon said. "Then they write algorithms and control your life."

Referring to Zuckerberg's apologies and media interviews reacting to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Bannon said he "sounds like a first-year associate hired in corporate development, mumbles through the whole interview, and no one asks him a tough follow-on question." He also accused media outlets of playing "patty cake" with the Facebook CEO.